Al-Qaeda plots to kidnap civilian workers in Afghanistan

Al-Qaeda has called on the Taliban to kidnap more foreign civilians in Afghanistan so they can be used in prisoner swap deals.

By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney, Ben Farmer in Kabul and Dean Nelson in New Delhi

3:06PM BST 16 Sep 2009

Terrorist leaders say a concerted campaign of abductions targeting thousands of expatriates including Britons was justified by the detention of Muslims in prisons such as Guantánamo Bay.

The call from Mustafa Hamid, also known as Abu Walid al Masri, has just emerged but was made in July, just weeks before a British journalist, Stephen Farrell, was kidnapped in Kunduz province.

Western sources in Kabul said the order would be seen as a message to criminal kidnap gangs to "let the games begin", and pass on captives to the Taliban.

The article on a jihadist website, entitled "The US Soldier in Afghanistan – the first step for the release of all prisoners of the war on terror", said the capture of a US paratrooper in June should mark a precedent for abducting Western civilians.

Masri argued that the US had "changed the rules of the game" by not distinguishing between civilians and combatants and by torturing inmates.

He said it was now time for the fighters to "change the rules" and "accept the principle approved and implemented by the enemy – the abduction of civilians who have nothing to do with the battle".

He wrote that soldiers and civilians from foreign countries were fair targets and said "the Taliban should do as its enemy does" and take prisoners from the streets.

Masri was one of the Taliban high command's most trusted advisers and though supposedly been held in Iranian custody since 2003, he remains a respected and prolific writer among militants.

The document was found on the jihadist website by Leah Farrall, a former Australian counter-terrorism analyst who investigated the Bali bombings.

She said: "I have not [previously] seen any senior militant figure sanction a targeted campaign in direct response to American detainee policies and I find this extremely concerning."

Kidnappings are already one of the greatest threats to the thousands of international expats working in Afghanistan, including large numbers of Britons.

One Western source said: "It's a message to the criminal gangs to let the games begin. Al-Qaeda themselves don't have the capacity to do anything like this, but they could be hoping it triggers a campaign of kidnapping by criminals."

A security adviser who protects aid workers said similar orders had been made in the past.

Kidnapping members of Afghanistan's small wealthy elite for ransom is a mainstay of organised crime in the country, but the knowledge that the Taliban were now looking for captives could encourage attacks on foreigners.

He said: "Any time there's something that goes out that's as public as this, it might encourage new groups who didn't do this to start doing this."

Khalid Khawaja, a former officer in Pakistan's ISI intelligence service and a friend of Osama bin Laden, said the threat was justified because the West and Muslim world were at war.

He told The Daily Telegraph: "This is a war because American and Nato forces have declared a war against the people. The government abducts people and that qualifies for anything others are doing.

"This is normal retaliation. Governments must realise that if they do not stop these abductions, then this call is also justified.

"No one should be abducted but in a war it's justified and they must expect others to do whatever they can."